North America / USA / New York
Luis J. Cruz H. They recognize the Puerto Rican Trombonist
The sound of the trombone sings a seductive melody that fuses the Antillean archipelago into a single town united by strong historical-cultural ties.
The sons and daughters of the Caribbean have left their mark on universal culture, but the libertarian struggles established an umbilical cord that established the dream of an Antillean confederation that has resisted the divisionism that conquering partisans have sown for more than a century.
Luis J. Cruz H, an academic musician from Catañes based in New York with more than thirty-seven years of artistic life, recognized as the Steel Lips Trombone by legendary musicians such as Ángel ¨Papo¨Vazquez (Founder of the Manny Oquendo Free Group of New York, the Baracumbele Experimental Group of Puerto Rico).
Cruz got her start in music at the age of fourteen, when she took an optional music course in middle school. He discovered that he had talent, loved music and wanted to be a musician. The teachers advised him to enroll in the Escuela Libre de Música de Hato Rey in Puerto Rico.
¨I was privileged. I had excellent teachers at the Ramón B. López, Rafael Cordero and Onofre Carballeira schools. They encouraged me to study and listen to the call of my heart. My parents, Luis A. Cruz Vega and Carmen M. Huertas Santiago, were fundamental. My mother has been my greatest source of support and two educators, teacher Edgardo Correa and teacher Antonio Salcedo, are the people who have most influenced my professional development¨ recalls Cruz Huertas.
The love between the trombone and Cruz was one at first sight. ¨I heard the trombone and I fell in love with its sound. Then I petted him. I reach my soul. It’s been more than thirty seven years since I married my trombone and we became one.
He has participated in several orchestras such as José Alberto el Canario, Celia Cruz, Frankie Ruiz, Willie González, Eddie Santiago and is currently the first trombone of the legendary group Boricua Legends of Pedro Pocholo Segundo in New York.
In the coming days of the month of August, he will visit us in Caracas-Venezuela, to participate in a master class on techniques, use and execution of the slide trombone at the facilities of the National Center for Social Action for Music.
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